... The guns were locked securely inside the safe, Delaney said, but the safe itself was not anchored in place. When the robbers could not open the safe inside the house, they picked it up and carried it out of the house, he said....

... The safe was later found, broken open and stripped of any weapons or ammunition, he said...

...

The news item doesn't say WHERE the cracked-open gun safe turned up.

And just for clarification's sake, the local newspaper here in Springfield used to be called the Springfield Daily Republican. It later got shortened to just The Republican. So the reporter named Partick Johnson who wrote this article is being identified up above as a staff member at that newspaper. (In other words, he may or may not be a member of the GOP, which is entirely irrelevent here.)

"We've got provisions and lots of beer. The key word is survival on the new frontier." --Steely Dan 1983

"... it doesn’t really matter who is removing your civil liberties, whether it is being done by a democratic government, a kleptocracy, a dictatorship or even the green police. When your civil rights are gone, they’re gone, and you really are in trouble, no matter how good the cause." --UK journalist Anthony Harrington, "Peak Oil and Collapse Scenarios," QFinance, September, 2011

Our parents used to say, "Don't worry, the government will take care of it."And now our kids say, "Don't worry, the government will take care of us."

What is the proper way to anchor a safe to the floor? If the floor is accessible underneath via a basement, couldn't the thieves just break off the bolts or unscrew the nuts? Maybe some Loctite or weld the nuts on?

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Lifetime MSB member before it was cool...

"I don't believe in organizing, I don't believe in the supposed revolution, I don't believe in politics, I don't believe in protesting, I don't believe in educating the masses, etc.All fruitless meaningless exercises in this age of apathy and control. I realized that what I do believe in is taking proactive steps to make my world a better place for everyone by making choices in my own personal life."- Comrade Tweek

What is the proper way to anchor a safe to the floor? If the floor is accessible underneath via a basement, couldn't the thieves just break off the bolts or unscrew the nuts? Maybe some Loctite or weld the nuts on?

Well, once again, most people opt for convenience rather than security, like many other things.

A safe in the basement isn't convenient. After all, you might have to walk down all those stairs, open your safe, get your guns out, walk back upstairs and then do it all over when you're done working (playing) with your favorite weapon.

Secondly, if you DO mount the safe on a floor that is accessible from underneath, you would put the bolthead underneath and the nuts inside the safe. It's much harder to access from beneath, that way. And no, you wouldn't weld them into place.

The Professor

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On "The List" since 1994. Isn't it about time YOU got on The List?

I once filled the best and brightest of our young men and women with important knowledge. . .now, I just get paid for my opinions. Ain't Life Grand?

Well, once again, most people opt for convenience rather than security, like many other things.

A safe in the basement isn't convenient. After all, you might have to walk down all those stairs, open your safe, get your guns out, walk back upstairs and then do it all over when you're done working (playing) with your favorite weapon.

Secondly, if you DO mount the safe on a floor that is accessible from underneath, you would put the bolthead underneath and the nuts inside the safe. It's much harder to access from beneath, that way. And no, you wouldn't weld them into place.

The Professor

the reason you mentioned is the primary reason I'm NOT putting it in the basement! Uh, hypothetically speaking. What safe? I meant that the floor I'm putting it on could be accessed underneath in the basement. I will put the nuts on the inside, why didn't I think of that? I must have failed that engineering class in college. Just had a DUH moment, thanks The Professor!

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Lifetime MSB member before it was cool...

"I don't believe in organizing, I don't believe in the supposed revolution, I don't believe in politics, I don't believe in protesting, I don't believe in educating the masses, etc.All fruitless meaningless exercises in this age of apathy and control. I realized that what I do believe in is taking proactive steps to make my world a better place for everyone by making choices in my own personal life."- Comrade Tweek

Well, once again, most people opt for convenience rather than security, like many other things.

A safe in the basement isn't convenient. After all, you might have to walk down all those stairs, open your safe, get your guns out, walk back upstairs and then do it all over when you're done working (playing) with your favorite weapon.

Secondly, if you DO mount the safe on a floor that is accessible from underneath, you would put the bolthead underneath and the nuts inside the safe. It's much harder to access from beneath, that way. And no, you wouldn't weld them into place.

The Professor

Some people wouldn't.

I find that a small tack weld is sufficient to secure the nut to the bolt. If I need to remove it, I have a grinder or Dremel that will quickly separate them. Additionally, I keep all my reloading powder in my gun safe as well. I have insurance. If they want to use a torch to get into my safe, then I've done my job to keep that scumbag from breaking into someone else's safe. Then I get to go buy new guns with the insurance! It's a win/win proposition.

"One of these centuries, the brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force."— Ragnar Danneskjöld, from Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)

"We've got provisions and lots of beer. The key word is survival on the new frontier." --Steely Dan 1983

"... it doesn’t really matter who is removing your civil liberties, whether it is being done by a democratic government, a kleptocracy, a dictatorship or even the green police. When your civil rights are gone, they’re gone, and you really are in trouble, no matter how good the cause." --UK journalist Anthony Harrington, "Peak Oil and Collapse Scenarios," QFinance, September, 2011

Our parents used to say, "Don't worry, the government will take care of it."And now our kids say, "Don't worry, the government will take care of us."

Two observations I've made over the years about safes that get bolted down ...

1) Think long and hard about WHERE you bolt it to the floor because you wanna make darn sure you will have no future need to rearrange the furniture in whatever room it's now bolted into.

2) Be wary -- be VERY wary-- of your own proclivity for laziness when it comes to a very small safe which needs to be stooped down to with backbreaking inconvenience. I nannied for a (very strange) lady who was totally into her clothes and shoes. She had a magnificent walk-in closet in the master bedroom JUST FOR HER (her husband's clothes were kept in another room in the house because she edged him out of the closet completely with her endless shopping for clothes). In that closet, she had a 2-foot-high safe bolted to the floor, and in that safe she kept her REAL jewelry. She was very lazy about closing the safe. I frequently walked into that closet with the clean laundry to put away, and the safe door was always hanging wide open (I don't ever recall seeing it shut). It was just way too low to the floor for her to be bothered with getting down on her knees and spinning the dial. So she left it open all the time.

"We've got provisions and lots of beer. The key word is survival on the new frontier." --Steely Dan 1983

"... it doesn’t really matter who is removing your civil liberties, whether it is being done by a democratic government, a kleptocracy, a dictatorship or even the green police. When your civil rights are gone, they’re gone, and you really are in trouble, no matter how good the cause." --UK journalist Anthony Harrington, "Peak Oil and Collapse Scenarios," QFinance, September, 2011

Our parents used to say, "Don't worry, the government will take care of it."And now our kids say, "Don't worry, the government will take care of us."

I think safes are one area where you should not skimp on quality. Really good safes weigh in at over 1000 pounds for a small safe. but they cost 2 to 3 times as much at a cheap one. Mine weighs over 1500 pounds. This has to be in the basement, but you also do not need to bolt it down. It took 5 hours of careful rigging to get the safe in place, its going nowhere. If you bolt your safe to a wooden floor, all you need is a chainsaw, and bolt down is defeated very quickly...

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"In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all - security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again."- Edward Gibbon

"One of these centuries, the brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force."— Ragnar Danneskjöld, from Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)

my safe isn't the heaviest, but it wasn't in budget to get a really big/heavy safe. i did bolt it down though. got the impact drill and put four holes in the slab of the house and dropped some of the expanding bolts down there... i can't think of their technical name. i also put the same into a corner so it is very hard to leverage it out.

my safe is mostly to keep curious people out and keep the guns safely away from my kids. if a pro came in i would be toast, but i knew that when i bought the safe so i'm OK with that. in fact any safe can be broken into, it's just a matter of time and tools. i'm playing the odds that the common criminal won't want to waste the time messing with my safe and just take what they can get.. .which isn't much anyways. i do like the black powder idea... i may have to get some...

"One of these centuries, the brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force."— Ragnar Danneskjöld, from Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)